Children’s Health

Health Care Reform: What Does it Mean for Children?

Voices is monitoring the bill’s impact on children and families. Some of the headline reforms the bill makes include the following:

• Prohibiting insurers from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions;
• Eliminating lifetime and annual limits, a critical change for children with chronic conditions
• Allowing parents to maintain coverage for unmarried dependents up to age 26;
• Requiring health plans to cover, at no cost, the preventive care and screening procedures as outlined in Bright Futures, the American Academy of Pediatrics’ gold standard for preventive care; and
• Building on the success of Medicaid and CHIP in reducing the number of uninsured children by setting a new eligibility floor for Medicaid at 133 percent of the federal poverty level and preserving CHIP through 2019, with funding provided for the program through 2015.

Updates

Health reform passes the House! The most significant health legislation to pass in decades, the bill bolsters Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, covers the uninsured, ends insurer discrimination against preexisting conditions for children and helps children and families in countless other ways. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi cites Voices for America’s Children as a key member of the coalition for health reform (see Pelosi’s entire remarks here).

Voices releases statement on the Senate health bill praising negotiation efforts on the most comprehensive health reform in decades.  Read Voices’ statement on the Senate health bill.

Voices endorses an amendment to the Senate health bill that would protect coverage for millions of vulnerable children. The amendment, submitted by Sen. Robert Casey (D-PA), would bolster the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program, which has helped reduce the number of uninsured children by millions, even in a time of economic crisis. Read Voices’ endorsement of the Casey amendment.

The Senate health reform bill analyzed. Voices chief health policy watcher briefly explains where the Senate health bill helps children, and how it could be improved.

Voices writes to Congress on the House health bill. Voices congratulates the House on making the most significant progress on health reform in 40 years. But Voices continues to urge Congress to consider extending the basic care for the most vulnerable children provided by the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Click to read Voices’ letter to Congress on the House health bill.

The House health reform bill passes. The bill would help children by expanding Medicaid, outlining an essential benefit insurance package, funding new wellness programs and other vital reforms, but would do away with the successful Children’s Health Insurance Program. Click to read Voices’ response to the House health bill.

10/21 – A letter to the Senate. Voices for America’s Children and several other prominent child health organizations co-write a letter to Senate leadership on provisions that must be included in the merged Senate health legislation.

10/20 – Voices for America’s Children joins a national call-in day. Click to see our goals for the call.

Finance Committee passes health bill. The Baucus bill has cleared committee but, like the others, it fails to cover all kids. Read Voices’ statement.